Caruaru

Caruaru's Feira is one of the largest markets in the north-east, running through the week with a section for everything - livestock, tools, hammocks, cured meat, leather, herbs, junk - and it was the subject of the Luiz Gonzaga song that fixed it in the national imagination. The other half of the town's reputation is Alto do Moura, a district of potters where Vitalino Pereira dos Santos, known as Mestre Vitalino, began in the 1930s modelling small unglazed clay figures of sertao life: cattle drovers, funerals, dentists, bandits, musicians. The tradition continued after his death in 1963 and the street is now lined with workshops, with a museum in his house. Caruaru's Sao Joao runs through June and rivals Campina Grande's.

History

The land on the cattle route from the sertão to the coast belonged to the Vidal de Souza family, and José Rodrigues de Jesus, married to a granddaughter of the pioneer João Alvares Vidal, built the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição with the bishop of Olinda's leave in 1781, which led to a weekly market and drew settlers; by 1794 a village of a considerable number of houses already bore its present name. In 1846 the Capuchin friar Euzébio de Sales began the main church, now the cathedral, rebuilt for the last time in 1883, and the town counts 18 May 1857 as its founding date (Wikipedia, Caruaru).

What you'll find

• The Feira de Caruaru - a market covering everything, running all week.
• Alto do Moura - a street of potters' workshops making figurative clay.
• Mestre Vitalino's house - the museum to the man who started the tradition.
• June forro - a month-long Sao Joao rivalling Campina Grande's.

When to go

All year; June for Sao Joao. Two days.

Good to know

The fair is crowded, hot and chaotic - go early. Alto do Moura is very commercial now and quality across the workshops varies widely. In June the town is full and prices rise steeply. The drive from Recife is slow at weekends.

Nearby

Nova Jerusalem is south-west; Recife is east down the BR-232.

Key facts